Friends Want Slain Aide’s Killers Fished Out

Friends and associates of the late Olaitan Oyerinde, the former Principal Private Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, have restated their call on the relevant authorities to bring his killers to book even as they paid glowing tribute to the slain aide.

They made the call in Benin at the third memorial meeting held in honour of the deceased. Oyerinde was killed by unknown gunmen in his house in Benin in the early hours of Friday, May 4, 2012.

The slain aide was a former Deputy General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The gathering was attended by friends of the deceased from the human rights community, the media among others.

In his opening remarks, the convener of the event, Mr Taiwo Akerele, described the late Oyerinde as ‘a humane person’ who was murdered in his prime.

“He was prepared for the assignment he was executing at the time he fell to the cold hands of death. He was a thorough bred intellectual.

“He had a sound clarity of thought, solid background on the administrative philosophy of his boss and a clear ideology on the imperatives of social inclusion in governance and development,” Akerele said.

In his remark, a former Attorney-General of Edo State, Mr Osagie Obayuwana, described the late Oyerinde “as a bridge builder, tender, humorous yet fearless.”

He expressed hope that the Nigeria Police would one day feel challenged that an offence had been committed and would not rest until it was investigated.

General Secretary, Textile Workers Union, Mr Issa Aremu, noted that Oyerinde’s murder raised the ‘painful nostalgia’ of Nigeria’s unresolved individual murder cases of both the high and low without official declaration of war.

He said that the controversies that surrounded his death led to the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) parading two sets of suspects for the same offence.

‘Aremu said: “The only way to mourn Oyerinde is to fix the nation the way he desired.